198
submitted 2 days ago by Sunshine@lemmy.ca to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
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[-] datendefekt@feddit.org 73 points 2 days ago

European! (Built in China)

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As an electronics designer professionally I just want to chime in.

With current infrastructure, it is very very very difficult to not go bankrupt and making consumer products in the EU the price for these sort of small products would be double to triple and of the same quality (I.e. shit products would also be shit, just much more expensive).

We need to be investing in automation infrastructure in low cost of living areas to get anywhere near competitive. Even current PCB manufacturers in Italy, Portugal, and Hungary are useful for B2B industrial, medical, and aerospace products mostly because the cost to assemble the PCBs is simply too high for consumers to consider buying.

Look at fairphone. They are designed in NL, software written in the EU, and still produced in China (searching for better conditions though) and like 90% of consumers that consider them won't buy them specifically because of price point.

Designed in the EU, produced in china (and software in the EU) is already a large step up because development costs and profits go to EU companies, even if produced in China. Small companies have no other choice.

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 33 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'll bite the top voted post - this is not the right mentality to have. OP just bought from an EU company and wanted to post to our community, shouldn't we be a bit more encouraging? The EU consumer electronics industry simply isn't there yet for the charger case - see my other post

[-] JoeBidet@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago

By "European" you mean "made in China"?

[-] callcc@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Came to day this :D

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Good on you for at least using an European company. Finding the manufacturer making everything from start to finish in Europe can be exhausting. I was interested and I've found https://en.recable.eu/products/usb-a-usb-c-30-watt-charger - still made in China but the company is German. This is also the first foldable EU plug charger I've seen. The cables they make are handmade thus expensive, but I like the message: moving the production burden from overseas to back home.

For others, there is also the probaby-made-in-china-but-at-least-by-a-eu-bcorp Fairphone Dual-port 30W charger or the Pinepower - sadly with NA adapter

[-] huppakee@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago

A foldable EU plug!? Me likely :)

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[-] huppakee@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Thanks good tip, based in Sweden I see. And from their about page: "We do not believe in generic products manufactured under marginalized conditions." Cool.

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 2 points 1 day ago

In the video you can see the plug body is not flush with the rest of the charger when it's folded, but still pretty interesting. I'm on the fence whether I should get it - it's pretty big - the chinesium Baseus charger I have is smaller still I think

[-] huppakee@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah flat is also not necessarily the most portable, if I carry a charger it's not always the only tech so wide and long can also be annoying. I'm fine with what I have so I'll stick to it as longs as it works. But if it breaks I might consider both.

[-] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

Good on you for at least using an European company.

This is from someone elseโ€™s post from r/buyfromeu.

[-] VeganCheesecake 24 points 2 days ago

Didn't know they where German. My main association with them is that their stuff is kinda ass.

[-] cageythree@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 days ago

Same. I worked in an electronics store. This was one of the manufacturers where products broke so often we had a separate bin for their broken products.

But it was also one of the "refund anytime, no questions asked" manufacturers where we could just say how many value of products we got returned and they would just refund the amount to us. No pesky RMA process, no repairs, just take it back whenever the customer is unhappy and throw it away.

[-] Trihilis@ani.social 21 points 2 days ago

How are manufacturers like this even allowed to exist. The amount of environmental pollution by generating e-waste is just insane.

[-] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 7 points 1 day ago

Friendly reminder IKEA sell some top notch USB chargers and cables.

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 5 points 2 days ago

I was surprised to find that a lot of the things in the middle aisle at Lidl (think small kitchen appliances and such), which I expected to be Chinese, claim to have been manufactured in Germany (often by small firms in regional cities). As such, itโ€™s plausible that they could make, say, USB cables or chargers in the EU without each commanding a luxury-goods price tag.

[-] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

Fighting the good fight, keep it up

[-] Hello_there@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago

Are you sure you bought the right one? Doesn't that look a little... intenso?

this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
198 points (100.0% liked)

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